Monday, February 02, 2009

What is the Coolest Album Title?

I'm not asking what the best or coolest album is. I just want to focus on title of album--Disregard quality for the time being, if possible. What is the best album title? Liking the title doesn't necessarily mean you like the album. Here are some of the best album titles of all time:

Disraeli Gears by CreamEponymous by REM (Clever, no?)Physical Graffiti by Led ZeppelinIcky Thump by The White StripesViva Hate by Morrissey

And here is the dumbest album title of all time:

Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Stadium Arcadium is also very dumb. I would say the Chili Peppers have the most disparity between album title quality and quality of album.

Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy is a very memorable title by The Who. Back in Black is also cool in the context of AC/DC. Tigerlilly is an extremely apt title for Natalie Merchant's album, but not a stand out in terms of being cool.

Long time ago, I went to an REM concert. (around the time of Green). Michael Stipe said that they wanted to name their first album "Cat Butt" but were pretty sure that would have nixed their cred. I think it would have been awesome!

Sort of on the same topic, but Blender Magazine just came out with the worst band names of all time. They had The Beatles on there. Now, it's not secret I don't like The Beatles, but the worst band name? I can at least admit it is creative and unique.

There are so many of them! I'm particulary fond of "universal" album titles, like the "( )" album by Sigur Ros or what's commonly referred to as the "White Album" by The Beatles. But here's a list of pretty interesting ones: